1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exercise information detecting apparatus, an exercise information detecting method, and a computer-readable storage medium having an exercise information detection program stored thereon. Specifically, the present invention relates to an exercise information detecting apparatus having a heartbeat measurement function for measuring heartbeat data with the apparatus being mounted on a human body at the time of an exercise, an exercise information detecting method, and a computer-readable storage medium having an exercise information detection program stored thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, because of rising health consciousness, more and more people are performing daily exercises, such as running, walking, and cycling, to maintain their wellness or improve their health condition. In addition, an increasing number of people are aiming to participate in a competition (race) such as a marathon race through these daily exercises. These people are highly conscious of and interested in measuring and recording their own health conditions and exercise status by using numerical values or data. Currently, various measuring devices supporting this demand are commercially available. By measuring and recording a footstep count, movement distance, pulsation (heart rate), calorie consumption amount, and the like, their own health conditions and exercise status can be grasped.
As an example of this type of measuring device, a heartbeat measuring apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 05-212136 has been known, which includes a heartbeat detector that is worn on a chest part and a heartbeat display apparatus that is worn on an arm part. In general, as a method for counting a heart rate applied to a heartbeat measuring apparatus, a scheme of measuring time between heartbeat signals is applied. On the other hand, it has been known that, when the heartbeat measuring apparatus is mounted on a human body to measure the heart rate during an exercise such as running or running in a marathon, a contact state between the human body and an electrode of the heartbeat detector may become non-uniform and unstable, whereby noise may be generated, or a signal other than heartbeat generated from the human body by the exercise may occur as noise. As a result, in the above-described method for counting a heart rate, if a noise component generated due to the movement of the human body is erroneously detected as a heartbeat signal, the heart rate may not be able to be measured correctly. As a method to solve this problem, for example, a method is known in which noise components occurred due to the movement of a human body (body motion) are removed from a detected signal by using a filter, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) Publication No. 2007-054471.
In the above-described noise removal method using a filter, when a measurement subject (user) wearing a heartbeat measuring apparatus stays still, noise is favorably removed. Therefore, this method is quite effective. However, with this method, in some cases, it is not possible to sufficiently remove only noise components from noise occurred at the time of an exercise. As a result, the number of times a non-removed noise component is erroneously detected as a heartbeat signal is increased, and a heart rate higher than the true value is disadvantageously calculated.
The present invention has been conceived in light of the above-described problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an exercise information detecting apparatus, an exercise information detecting method, and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having an exercise information detection program stored thereon by which an accurate heart rate is measured even when a measurement subject is performing an exercise.